Bracing as the westerly was at Marshside today, I couldn't help wondering if a smarter man wouldn't have his ass wedged in the Mermaid Inn on St Mary's waiting for the wind to drop and the Yankees to emerge from the Scilly cover.
Always tricky to watch the marsh in these conditions, with most birds keeping a low profile, including a fine Greenshank on the Sandplant Lagoon, which looked decidedly unimpressed with the conditions.
Plenty of Little Egrets about, as you would expect, with a Blackwit roost at the Junction Pool, and several groups of Pinkies and Si Glinn, Jason and Bones had bagged a ringtail Hen Harrier on the outer marsh before I met up with 'em.
Best I could manage was a young Peregrine cowering on a tide-dumped branch.
Mipits, Skylarks, Reed Bunts and Linnets overhead, no sign of flocks of Snow Geese, but today's group (wherever they have come from) that graced the Fylde and Preston way may just pop up on the mosses if we are lucky.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Hi John, Redwing on Marshside 2 this morning. Flew inland over Marshside. Mike.
Hi John. The Ring-tail came back later on to join a male Marsh Harrier and the Peregrine in a 3-way skirmish ~ it was good to see all three in the same scope view.
Holy Cow!!! Female LONG EARED OWL in the back garden at Dempsey Towers at 9.15pm - called, then flew out of the poplars through the bright glare of the security light as Mrs D and I had a crafty smoke, before disappearing over the rooftop, no more 15 feet from us...MEGA - my garden owl list now stands at five species!!!
Now that's put the lead back in my autumn pencil!
Redwings calling from starry skies with a northerly wind over my garden here in Liverpool late tonight.
Congrats on the LEO John best I've ever had in the garden is Tawny.
Hesketh Out Marsh 10:30 to 12 noon today.
Snow Goose (white morph) - one with 7,500 Pinkfeet plus 28 Whoopers, two Swallows plus odds and sods including a distant Egret the size of the Grey Heron standing next to it, but heat haze a problem.
Still have not got your Finland images you ****** !!!
Go well
JKB
Almost forgot, also on Banks Marsh, two Black Swans in the company on three Mutes!
There were up to 5000+ Pink Feet today opposite where Christmas World is going to be on the Formby bypass.There was a leucistic bird with them very pale light brown.
Hi John, can you help me please?
I live in West Derby and do most of my birding around there, but don't know of any websites which give bird sightings from all over Liverpool.
Do you know of any sites?
Cheers.
(I promise I'm a birder and not after sightings for any other reason. I know Somerset and Hampshire have sites like these, but I can't find one for Liverpool)
Flock of 18 Fieldfare over Cabin Hill, Formby this afternoon. About 2000 Pinkfeet flew to roost on Formby Bank off Hightown.
Great Crested Grebe and about 60 Common Scoter on a distant flat sea off Birkdale in the hour leading up to dusk, scattering of regular waders around too and lot's of Skylarks on the Green Beach. Interestingly 75 Pinks flew in from the direction of the Mosses and then followed the tideline north towards the estuary. Are these birds which have learnt to evade the gunmen on the marshes by flying in over the sand/mud instead of crossing the Marshes?
Mermaid, westerlies, yanks...........if only, my ass has been firmly planted in the Turks Head for 2 weeks during what must have been the quietest Oct Scilly has ever seen - I didn't even see Goldcrest yet alone any yanks. 7 of us, all very keen, found almost nothing between us. (Ortolan, Rosefinch and Little Bunting aside). Hit the north!